The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum began life as a novel by Nobel laureate Heinrich Bohl based on the pacifist author’s arrest by the German government and pillorying by the press for his alleged involvement in violent anti-Vietnam War protests. It was a novel to the extent that the middle-aged writer made the protagonist a young girl, but the events portrayed were pretty much what happened to him.

The 1975 film, newly released on Broadway by the Criterion Collection was co-directed by Volker Schlondorff (The Tin Drum) and his then-wife, actress Margarethe von Trotta. Von Trotta was given co-director responsibilities by Schlondorff in compensation for losing the title role to the younger Angela Winkler at the insistence of the film’s producer. According to Schlondorff, Winkler’s performance was a combination of her own girlish whimsey and von Trotta’s more seasoned influence. As he explains in the excellent archival interview included as an extra, Winkler was at her best on the first or second take while veteran actor Mario Adorf (Smilla’s Sense of Snow) as her interrogator didn’t warm up until his seventh or eighth take. His trick was to film her closeups on the first or second take and his on his eighth or later.

The film is a harrowing account of a naïve young woman who had a one-night stand with a suspected terrorist. She is arrested by the police and put through the wringer. After the nightmare ends, another one begins as the press hunts her down and she is forced to take matters into her own hands. It was an early showcase for both Winkler (Suspiria) and Jurgen Prochnow (Das Boot).

Kino Lorber has released collections of three films each by Carole Lombard, Audie Murphy, and Tony Curtis on Blu-ray.

Carole Lombard Collection Volume 1 includes Fast and Loose, Man of the World, and No Man of Her Own.

Classified as a pre-code comedy rather than a screwball comedy, a term that wasn’t coined for another four years, they don’t come much screwier than 1930’s Fast and Loose, directed by Fred Newmeyer (Safety Last) from a 1925 Broadway play.

The plot revolves around the machinations of the spoiled rich kids (Miriam Hopkins, Henry Wadsworth) of Guy Kibbee. Hopkins (Becky Sharp) falls in love with chauffer Charles Starrett (The Durango Kid) while Wadsworth (The Thin Man) falls for showgirl Lombard. Hopkins and Starrett, both making their talkie debuts, come off best. Lombard, who is second billed behind Hopkins, is not yet the saucy star she would become with 1934’s Twentieth Century. She is, in fact, rather bland. Ilka Chase (Now, Voyager) as her roommate steals all their scenes together.

Lombard has a showier role in 1931’s Man of the World, directed by Richard Wallace (The Young in Heart), but her clipped dialogue as a young American socialite is rather annoying.

Originally intended as a vehicle for Maurice Chevalier, this Paris-set melodrama was refashioned for William Powell to complete out his contract with Paramount before moving over to Warner Bros., and then MGM. Although publicity suggested that he and Lombard met on the set (they were married a few weeks after the film was finished), they in fact had previously met at a party. He plays a con man who uses her to fleece her wealthy uncle (Guy Kibbee again). It all ends badly, unlike their real-life marriage that ended on a friendly basis two years later. Their on-screen chemistry was, however, better after the divorce, 1936’s My Man Godfrey being one of the highlights of both their careers.

Directed by Wesley Ruggles (Cimarron), 1932’s No Man of Her Own is a romantic drama in which card sharp Clark Gable marries librarian Lombard who thinks he’s a businessman. Lombard was still married to Powell at the time and had no interest in Gable. It wasn’t until they met again several years later that they fell in love and eventually married. You can see it in their lack of on-screen chemistry. Lombard got the role after Miriam Hopkins turned it down, refusing to take second billing to Gable.

Audie Murphy Collection includes The Duel at Silver Creek, Ride a Crooked Trail, and No Name on the Bullet.

Murphy, the most decorated hero of World War II, was for the most part a rather bland actor. Almost all his films are ensemble pieces in which he may have had star billing but didn’t carry the film on its own.

1952’s The Duel at Silver Creek is a standard oater, distinguished only by the fact that it was directed by Don Siegel (Dirty Harry). 1958’s Ride a Crooked Trail, directed by Jesse Hibbs (To Hell and Back), is a much more engaging western featuring Walter Matthau in one of his best early performances. 1959’s No Name on the Bullet, directed by Jack Arnold (The Incredible Shrinking Man), is the best of the lot, a suspense-filled drama in which a paid killer (Murphy) rides into town and everyone in town becomes paranoid, wondering if they are his unnamed target.

Tony Curtis Collection includes The Perfect Furlough, The Great Impostor, and 40 Pounds of Trouble.

Written by Stanley Shapiro (Pillow Talk) and directed by Blake Edwards (Operation Petticoat), The Perfect Furlough is pretty much a forgotten film that Curtis made between The Defiant Ones and Some Like It Hot, which was followed by Operation Petticoat), three of the biggest hits of the actor’s career. He plays a soldier who wins a lottery to represent all 104 soldiers on a remote artic base on a three-week furlough in Paris with a famous move star (Linda Cristal), chaperoned by the Army psychologist (Janet Leigh) who thought up the idea. Filled with one-liners, it goes pretty much where you expect it to go. Elaine Stritch and Keenan Wynn co-star.

Based on a true story, 1960’s The Great Imposter, directed by Robert Mulligan (To Kill a Mockingbird), is one of Curtis’ best vehicles. A precursor to Steven Spielberg’s 2002 film, Catch Me If You Can, Curtis plays a man who impersonates a marine, a monk, a navy surgeon, and a prison warden. He is superbly supported by Karl Malden, Edmond O’Brien, Arthur O’Connell, and Raymond Massey, among others.

1962’s 40 Pounds of Trouble was the third of four to-date films based on Damon Runyon’s Little Miss Marker in which Shirley Temple first played the title character in 1934. Directed by Norman Jewison (In the Heat of the Night), Curtis has the role of the guy who becomes responsible for the young girl when her father is killed, a role previously played by Adolphe Menjou and Bob Hope (in Sorrowful Jones), that would later be played by Walter Matthau. Suzanne Pleshette co-stars in this pleasant time killer.

This week’s new releases include the Blu-ray releases of Tender Mercies and Diva.